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Off-season trades

The off-season usually brings a number of high-profile NHL trades and we’ve already seen a couple with the Jordan Staal-Brandon Sutter and James van Riemsdyk-Luke Schenn swaps. What are the biggest summertime swaps in league history? That’s the focus of this week’s THN.com Top 10:

10. Senators trade Marian Hossa and Greg de Vries to Thrashers for Dany Heatley
In the summer of 2005, Ottawa was coming off a disappointing first round exit at the hands of the Leafs prior to the lockout, while Heatley was still coping with the emotional ramifications of a car accident that claimed the life of Atlanta teammate Dan Snyder. Trading Hossa – a key component of the Sens’ core – for Heatley gave both players fresh starts in new cities. Heatley played four seasons in Ottawa and Hossa played two-and-a-half in Atlanta.
9. Rangers trade Gump Worsley, Dave Balon, Leon Rochefort and Len Ronson to Canadiens for Jacques Plante, Phil Goyette and Don Marshall
It was June of 1963 when the Blueshirts and Habs made a deal involving two future Hall-of-Fame goalies. Worsley had won the Calder Trophy as a Ranger, but fell out of good favor with management; Plante had won a Hart and Vezina Trophy as well as six Stanley Cups as a Canadien, but also wasn’t in the good books of team brass. The trade turned out to be a big win for Montreal, who got the best years of Worsley’s career (and four more Cups with him in net), while Plante played just one-and-a-half more seasons before retiring for the first time.

8. Jets trade Dale Hawerchuk and their 1990 first round pick to Buffalo for Phil Housley, Scott Arniel, Jeff Parker and the Sabres’ first round pick
Hawerchuk was Winnipeg’s marquee player when he was suddenly dealt to the Sabres for star defenseman Housley. Interestingly enough, the two draft picks involved in the swap – Brad May for Buffalo and Keith Tkachuk for Winnipeg – became crucial to their respective teams’ success as well.
7. Oilers trade Chris Pronger to Anaheim for Joffrey Lupul, Ladislav Smid, a 2007 first round pick and conditional 2008 first and second round picks
This deal angered Edmonton fans in a big way when it was consummated in July of 2006 – and when Pronger won his first Cup as a Duck the following season – but it actually turned out to be a decent deal for the Oilers, who drafted young star Jordan Eberle with the conditional 2008 first-rounder (22nd overall) they got from Anaheim.
6. Maple Leafs trade Wendel Clark, Sylvain Lefebvre, Landon Wilson and a 1994 first round pick to Nordiques for Mats Sundin, Garth Butcher, Todd Warriner and a 1994 first round pick
Jaws dropped in Toronto on June 28, 1994 when Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher sent beloved star Clark to the Nords for young dynamo Sundin, who went on to star for the Buds for the next 13 seasons. Clark spent only one season in Quebec, but was part of a subsequent trade that brought Claude Lemieux to the Nordiques/Avalanche franchise.

5. Canadiens trade Chris Chelios and a 1991 second round pick to Chicago for Denis Savard
Chelios was a Norris Trophy-winner and Stanley Cup champion in Montreal by age 28, which made it all the more shocking when the Habs shipped him to the Hawks for fellow star Savard in June of 1990. Chelios played nine seasons in Chicago, while Savard played only three in his home province before playing for Tampa and then the Hawks again.

4. Red Wings trade Johnny Bucyk to Bruins for Terry Sawchuk
Bucyk had just finished his first full season in Detroit when he was shipped to Boston for the legendary Sawchuk’s goaltending talents in July of 1957. Bucyk played 21 seasons for the Bruins and won two Cups; Sawchuk disappointed in his second of three stints in Detroit and was left unprotected in the intraleague waiver draft of 1964.

3. Blackhawks trade Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge Sr. and Fred Stanfield to Bruins for Pit Martin, Gilles Marotte and Jack Norris
Esposito’s first three full NHL seasons were spent in the Windy City before he was dealt to Boston in May of 1967 and immediately raised his game to superstar levels. Hodge and Stanfield also became key contributors for the Bruins, making this deal one of the more lopsided in league history.

2. Flyers trade Peter Forsberg, Ron Hextall, Mike Ricci, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, Chris Simon, 1993 and 1994 first round picks and $15 million to Nordiques for Eric Lindros
Hailed as the next truly elite player along the lines of a Wayne Gretzky or Mark Messier before he’d played a single NHL game, Lindros famously said no to playing in Quebec and set in motion a bidding war that landed the Nords franchise a huge return for him in June of 1992. The trade – and the course of history of the league – would have been very different had a league arbitrator not ruled against Quebec’s attempt to nullify the Flyers deal and trade him to the Rangers instead.
1. Oilers trade Wayne Gretzky, Marty McSorley and Mike Krushelnyski to Kings for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, three first round picks and $15 million
Gretzky was the standard-bearer on the ice for a generation and his first NHL trade remains the measuring stick for all blockbuster trades. It not only turned the Kings into a Cup contender, but also helped drive American interest in the game and helped create the right kind of atmosphere in which the league could expand operations into a number of new U.S. markets. Oh, and it made The Great One cry, too.

Bettman says next season's salary cap could go ‘a couple or so million up'

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Bettman says next season's salary cap could go ‘a couple or so million up'

The NHL could be looking at a $2 million rise in the salary cap for next season, but early projections should be taken with a grain of salt. In December 2015, a potential rise of $3 million was projected. The upper limit increased by only $1.6 million.

It’s still far too soon to tell, but early estimations have it looking like the salary cap could jump up as much as $2 million ahead of the 2017-18 campaign.

Following the NHL’s Board of Governors meetings on Thursday, commissioner Gary Bettman was asked about what the league sees as a potential cap for the upcoming campaign, which, among other things, will see the introduction of the league’s 31st franchise in the Vegas Golden Knights.

Bettman didn’t give an exact figure as to what the cap will look like, but he said there’s the potential for the upper limit to move by roughly $2 million.

"There's always a range, but it's something we're going to have to look at very carefully in terms of how may be best to approach it," Bettman said, according to NHL.com’s Dan Rosen. "The cap could range from where it is now to a couple or so million up, but we're going to all have to focus on what makes most sense going forward.”

Any increase in the cap would be good news for the players, especially pending unrestricted free agents looking to land long-term, big-money deals. St. Louis Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk and Tampa Bay Lightning netminder Ben Bishop are two of the biggest names currently slated to hit the open market come July 2017.

Of course, there’s a chance the cap stays flat, which Bettman also indicated, but said he’d prefer to speak with the NHLPA about a possible flat cap before answering questions about it.

Before any GMs with tight cap situations or fans who’re praying their respective teams get some cap breathing room go celebrating, it’s worth noting that early projections for the 2016-17 salary cap saw the upper limit increasing by close to $3 million. That would have seen the cap rise from $71.4 million to $74.5 million, and anyone paying close attention to the financials of the league’s teams is aware that rise in the upper limit didn’t quite come to fruition.

Instead, the cap for the current campaign is $71.4 million, and the rise is mostly thanks to the NHLPA using their five-percent “escalator clause.” Had the players not used the clause, there was some concern the cap could have actually dipped from the past season to the current campaign. Some projections had the cap possibly falling below $70 million for 2016-17.

A rise of $2 million would be only slightly more than the $1.6 million increase from 2015-16 to 2016-17, and it would be one of the smallest increases since the salary cap was introduced in 2005-06. From 2008-09 to 2009-10, the cap rose by only $100,000 and there was no rise in the cap from 2011-12 to 2013-14, with teams allowed to spend to a $60-million limit during the 2012-13 lockout-shortened campaign.

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Coyotes’ Cunningham alert, awake and joking with teammates, but remains in hospital

There’s still no word as to what exactly caused Coyotes AHL captain Craig Cunningham to collapse on ice, but the 26-year-old was in contact with teammates and cracking jokes earlier this week.

More than two weeks after collapsing on the ice ahead of an AHL game between the Coyotes and Jets AHL affiliates, news has come that Craig Cunningham is starting to get back to his old self.

According to Tucson’s KVOA, Cunningham spoke with two teammates, Brandon Burlon and Christian Fisher, via FaceTime earlier this week, and both said that things are starting to look up for the 26-year-old Cunningham.

Fisher added that it was nice to see Cunningham, the captain of the Coyotes’ AHL affiliate Tucson Roadrunners, smiling again. But he wasn’t just smiling, he was also trying to have a good time with his teammates while hinting that he wants to get back on the ice.

“He was cracking jokes just as if he were here the next day," Fisher told KVOA. "It was pretty funny. He said he wanted us to come pick him up and take him to the rink. He was joking around. Stuff like that.”

The mystery still remains as to what caused Cunningham’s collapse, however. It came just moments before the game was set to start and resulted in medical staff in the building cutting away his equipment in order to attend to him. Cunningham ended up leaving the ice on a stretcher, was transported to hospital and he remained in critical but stable condition for much of the past two weeks.

Still, though, Burlon and Fisher said that there’s no “definitive answer” as to what caused Cunningham’s medical emergency. That’s more than all right with both players, too, so long as Cunningham’s health is starting to look up.

"What we do know is that he is doing well and we are moving forward here," Fisher told KVOA. "Hopefully, he will start the road to recovery now.”

Cunningham has suited up for 319 AHL games over the course of his career, netting 101 goals and 203 points, as well as scoring an additional three goals and eight points in 63 NHL games. He was drafted 97th overall by the Bruins in 2010, but was picked up by Arizona off waivers from Boston during the 2014-15 season.

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ECHL defenseman Anthony Calabrese is “lucky to be alive” after a “careless, reckless” hit, and Tyler Murovich, who delivered the blow, has been given a 12-game suspension as a first-time offender.

There are few plays scarier than seeing a player hit from behind and sent headfirst into the boards. That kind of play is made that much harder to watch when knowing the severity of the injury suffered.

During an ECHL contest on Nov. 24 between the Norfolk Admirals and Atlanta Gladiators, ECHL veteran Tyler Murovich delivered an incredibly dangerous shove to the back of Anthony Calabrese, a 24-year-old defenseman who’s only 12 games into his ECHL career.

The result of the hit was frightening. Calabrese was left laying face down on the ice, near motionless. The Admirals rearguard would eventually be placed on a stretcher, taken from the ice and transported to hospital.

That may seem harsh to some given that Murovich is a first-time offender, but given the severity of Calabrese’s injury, it actually seems like a somewhat light punishment.

As a result of the hit, Calabrese suffered broken C7 and T1 vertebrae. In simpler terms, he broke both his neck and his back. Oh, and he also punctured his lung. In fact, Calabrese told The Virginian-Pilot’s Jim Hodges that doctors told the young center that he’s “lucky to be alive.”

“It was a miracle, and they say I’m going to make a full recovery,” Calabrese told Hodges. “It’s going to be a long road, but I’d rather be alive than be in a wheelchair the rest of my life.”

What helped Calabrese escape with his life, he told Hodges, was advice he had gotten early in his career from a high school coach. Calabrese was taught that if he was ever going into the boards head first to lift his chin and turn to the side in an attempt to avoid taking the brunt of the impact with the top of his head.

“That’s honestly the only thing that registered in my mind when I was going in: at the last minute, pick my head up,” Calabrese told Hodges. “I remember picking my head up and turning it to the right.”

Thankfully, doctors told Calabrese that he can eventually return to the ice and that the injuries suffered from the hit won’t cost him his career. His spinal cord, he told Hodges, wasn’t damaged due to the hit. And, as hard as it may be to believe, doctors said it was the “best possible break” in a situation such as Calabrese’s.

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The Golden Knights have hit another hurdle with their name, this time with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A trademark request has been rejected, but it doesn’t sound like the team expects a name change.

The Vegas Golden Knights are really having a tough time catching a break in the naming department.

On Wednesday, a trademark request by the Golden Knights was rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in large part because the name and logo were deemed too similar to that of the NCAA’s College of St. Rose Golden Knights.

Yes, that’s right, yet another roadblock between the NHL’s newest franchise and the name Golden Knights.

The first hurdle for the team, and the first real hubbub about the name, came shortly after the naming ceremony in late November. The team had only had the Golden Knights moniker in place for a week when it was reported by The Fayetteville Observer’s Steve DeVane that the U.S. Army was set to review Vegas’ use of the name because it is shared by the Army’s highly decorated parachute team.

And all that came after Vegas owner Bill Foley purposely strayed from his first choice for the team name, Black Knights, in order to avoid any conflict with the U.S. Army’s NCAA athletics programs and after the singular name, Knights, was reportedly avoided in order to forego any conflict with the OHL’s London Knights.

Suffice to say, the naming process has been a headache thus far. However, before those who despise the name and/or logo go celebrating in the streets, it should be noted that the latest naming hurdle likely means nothing in the long run.

“Office actions like this are not at all unusual, and we will proceed with the help of outside counsel in preparing a response to this one,” the statement reads.

In their statement, Vegas also pointed to the shared names of UCLA and Boston, both named the Bruins, Miami and Carolina, both named the Hurricanes, and even pointed out that Vegas and Clarkson share the Golden Knights name. None of this is to mention the MLB’s Texas Rangers and the NHL’s New York Rangers share a name.

“We believe, at the end of the day, all parties will embrace the fact that we are the Vegas Golden Knights and this absolutely will work out,” Craven told Gotz. “I hope people don’t overreact to this at all. We believe everyone will be satisfied. We are only going to enhance the name Golden Knights for everyone. That’s our goal.”

UPDATE: NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly has released the following statement:

“We are currently reviewing the Trademark Office's letter and will prepare a detailed response demonstrating why we continue strongly to believe the Vegas Golden Knights mark should be registered in co-existence with the college registration, just as a number of other nicknames currently co-exist in professional and college sports (particularly where there is no overlap as to the sport for which the nickname is being used). That response is not due until June 7, 2017.

“We consider this a routine matter and it is not our intention to reconsider the name or logo of this franchise. We fully intend to proceed as originally planned, relying on our common law trademark rights as well as our state trademark registrations while we work through the process of addressing the question raised in the federal applications.”